In Sickness And In Death Part 15

We both started to laugh. Ray stepped inside the closet and closed the door behind him. "He's something else, isn't he?"

"He is. He is." I laughed so hard that tears came to my eyes.

Ray pulled me into his arms. "Gotta love a kid like that." He met my gaze and held it.

Then he whispered, "He saved you."

The laughter left me in an instant. "He did, Ray."

A flame flickered in his eyes. He bent to kiss me.

As his lips brushed mine, I felt a familiar tingle. It built into a slow burn. My tongue entwined with his as I molded my body to his, frustrated not to be closer.

He must have shared my frustrations because seconds later my back was against the wall, my legs wrapped around his waist, as he fought with his zipper.

A knock sounded on the closet door.

Ray whipped his head up and growled, "Yes?"

Danny's voice came from the other side. "The pizza's here. I need twenty bucks."

When the last slice of pizza disappeared, Ray took the empty box and threw it on the breakfast counter. Then he hitched his chair closer to the table and fixed his gaze on Danny.

Danny didn't seem to notice. He was too busy watching the clock. "Am I still going to be able to visit my dad tonight?"

I held my breath and prayed. Say "yes," Ray, say "yes."

Ray glanced at the clock over the stove. It read quarter to seven. "Visiting hours are from seven to nine weeknights. We can still make it, but, first, we have to talk."

Danny tried to read his face and failed. "I'm sorry about the fight at school."

"We can talk about that later. Right now I want to talk about Thanksgiving night when you smashed Erica's and Brennan's cars."

Danny swallowed. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't enough, Danny. You have to take responsibility for your actions. Jolene and I have talked it over. You need to pay for the damages to those vehicles, at least the insurance deductibles. You're going to have to work at Jolene's sports car boutique after school, helping Cory with the repairs and anything else he or Jolene ask you to do."

My mouth dropped open. We had no such discussion. This was Ray at his best, solving the problem and making decisions for me. "Ahh ..."

Ray paid no attention to me. "Are we agreed, Danny?"

"Yes, sir."

My lips compressed into a thin line of anger. If Ray had asked me, I would have told him how Danny felt about Cory and the complications that might arise from forcing them to work together. Now I would have to deal with that, too.

Ray patted Danny on the shoulder. "Good. Do you have any homework tonight?"

"Just one math sheet."

"Get it done by seven-thirty, and we'll head over to the jail."

As soon as Danny left the room, I whacked Ray on the arm and hissed, "We never talked about any of that. You're sticking me with him again."

"Remember that the next time you forget to inform me about Danny's behavior."

Why did I feel like I was being disciplined too? "Fine. Then you can take him to school tomorrow and deal with Mrs. Travis."

"I'm planning on it. I want to get a look at this kid who called me a pig. He bears watching." Ray wiggled his eyebrows.

When I didn't laugh, Ray reached over and took my hand in his. "Let's talk some more about who might have wanted to take a shot at you this afternoon. Have you been p.i.s.sing off anybody besides me lately?" He smiled to take the edge off his words.

I pulled my hand from his anyway. "I don't know, Ray. I've been asking around town about Maury Boor. No one admitted to knowing anything about him, but maybe they were lying."

Ray let out a heavy breath. "I took his picture into The Cat's Meow and showed it to the staff. He's been in there before, but none of them remembered if he was there on Josie ... Jessica James' last night."

"Were any of them receiving roses from him?"

"No."

"Other women at In-house Textiles did. He had them all pretty freaked out."

"Their HR manager mentioned that when I spoke to her." Ray rubbed his forehead. The lines on it seemed deeper than a few months ago. Had I contributed to the tension that caused them? When had he started looking so tired?

I grabbed his hand as he lowered it to the table and held on tight.

He glanced at me, seeming both surprised and pleased. "Maury resigned two weeks ago. He just finished out the month to get a few more dollars in vacation pay. He'd only worked there since August anyway."

"Did he get another job?"

"She didn't know. He gave his two weeks' notice and left. I got the impression they were glad to see him go, considering his effect on the women in the office."

"I'm surprised they didn't fire him."

"They had rea.s.signed him to a territory that required him to come in early to get the deliveries. That way he didn't see any of the women. The HR manager said that made most of the problem disappear.

"The Buffalo PD stopped by the address listed on his registration. It's a furnished apartment. The landlord hadn't seen Maury in a week or so, but the rent is paid up through today. He promised to call if Maury showed up."

I stifled a sigh. "So we're no closer to finding Maury or Erica."

"I'm afraid not."

"What about Jessica James' body?"

Ray squeezed my hand. "It's hunting season. We're hoping someone will stumble over her."

I got a visual of that in my head. A bit of bile burned the back of my throat.

Danny appeared behind Ray wearing his jacket. "I finished my homework."

Ray slapped his hands on the table and rose to his full and intimidating height. "Then let's go."

____.

I sat down and tried to concentrate on reading the newspaper, but the words blurred and jumbled in my mind. Ray's question came back to haunt me. Who had I p.i.s.sed off this week?

If Maury Boor had made off with my sister for either good or nefarious purposes, he might not like to have me hot on his trail. But which of the many people I'd spoken to about him had leaked my questions back to him? No one had really had a kind word for him. It was hard to imagine any of them secretly pa.s.sing information about my visit on to him. Still, stranger things have happened. Or maybe Erica had told him I would never rest until I found her. Maybe Maury thought he'd put me to rest instead.

I rose and closed the living room shutters. No sense making a target of myself.

I dropped back onto the sofa.

My only other new acquaintance this week was Leslie Flynn. From all appearances, she now loved me. She had a new style, more confidence, and no further interest in purchasing a Caterham at this time. All that and I hadn't even charged her a penny. In fact, I bought her lunch. Although I never sold her anything, I'd list her as a satisfied customer. Surely she wasn't mad at me for talking her out of buying a Caterham.

But I had asked her about her brother and if he knew Jessica James a.k.a. Josie Montalvo. She never got back to me on that question. What if she had asked her brother and mentioned my name during the course of the conversation? Would he come after me for some unknown reason? It seemed strange he would run from me in the grocery store then come back to shoot at me. Could he have a connection to Jessica James' death? He was known to frequent The Cat's Meow. I would have to ask Ray if he could get Leslie's brother's DMV picture to show the girls who worked there. Maybe he'd been one of the men Jessica had arranged to meet outside of work.

Otherwise, I was at a loss to figure out who would want to take a shot at me. Whoever it was must have seen Danny sitting in the Lexus, but hadn't had any interest in him. Or were the shots fired because of him? Ray hadn't interrogated Danny about his father, because he couldn't be the bad cop and the boy's foster father, too. But I had asked Danny a lot of questions and gotten some pretty interesting information about his father in return. Ray had questioned his father after that. Did Ray let it slip that Danny had confided in me? Had his father spoken with one of his friends and sent one after me to prevent Danny from confiding in me any further? I would have to ask Ray if Danny's father had received any other visitors at the jail.

Danny's father must know that Jessica James was dead and that he topped the suspect list. Maybe the attack had been designed to frighten me into asking Social Services to place Danny with another family. All the shots had missed, after all. Or maybe someone thought having shots fired at me would cause Social Services to take Danny away from us, preventing him from sharing any more information that might point to his father as a killer. Shots fired in our home had been one factor in the judge's decision to award custody of our sweet foster baby, Noelle, to her birthmother. Anyone who read the local paper would know that.

I got up and started to pace, watching the clock and waiting for Ray to come home. Did Danny know more that might incriminate his father? What would his father tell Danny tonight about his mother and aunt? Were Ray and I dismissing an obvious link? All I had was unanswered questions.

And where the h.e.l.l was Erica? Did Maury Boor figure into all this somehow? Was my sister in danger from him, or just herself like usual?

I started straightening stacks of magazines and blowing dust off the mantel, anything to take my mind off my worries. It didn't work.

When Ray and Danny walked through the door hours later at nine-thirty, I was in the kitchen making a cup of Chamomile tea to calm my overwrought nerves.

I darted into the living room just in time to see Danny's bedroom door close behind him.

Ray hung up his coat and followed me into the kitchen. He took a stool at the breakfast bar. "Danny wants to be left alone."

"Why?" I offered Ray tea, which he declined. Then I climbed onto the stool next to him. "What happened?"

"Danny saw his father in the visitor's area. I waited outside in the lobby."

"Did Danny tell you what they talked about?"

"No, but I could tell he'd been crying when he came out."

"Did you ask him why?"

"No, Jolene. Danny was trying to hide the fact he'd been crying. Maybe it upset him that he could only see his father on the other side of the gla.s.s. Maybe it's dawning on him that his father isn't going to be released, and he's stuck with us. It could be he's just sad. I wasn't going to ride him about it. You ask him tomorrow when I'm not around. He'll tell you."

"But, Ray-" I stopped short and told myself it wouldn't do any good to ride Ray, either. Instead, I filled him in on my tortured thoughts from earlier in the evening.

He heard me out and gave my ideas a few minutes of thought.

I started to get antsy, squirming on my barstool. "So, what do you think?"

"It's not Danny's father."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Danny's father doesn't know Danny confided in you, unless Danny told him. And even if Danny did, the guy hasn't had any visitors other than Danny. He hasn't placed any phone calls. His only contact has been with his public defender, who would never help arrange for a hit on you, Darlin'. It doesn't fit.

"But I will look into Leslie Flynn's brother. Leslie may have gone home today and asked him about Erica and The Cat's Meow. Maybe that tipped him off. He might have denied the whole thing to her, but now he knows you're interested in him. He may also know you're married to me. That fits."

Ray stood and stretched his arms toward the ceiling. "I'll check him out first thing in the morning. And I have the whole department on the lookout for Erica. She and Maury are bound to turn up soon."

His shirt slid out of his waistband and hitched up, exposing his hip bones and muscled abs and the fine dark hairs around his belly b.u.t.ton.

I couldn't take my eyes off him.

He noticed. His hand slid under my chin, lifting my face. His normally copper-colored eyes looked black. "I'll keep everyone safe. I promise."

I smelled coffee on his breath. I didn't drink coffee, but I sure loved the smell of it. It always reminded me of Ray.

A shiver racked my body.

He rubbed his nose against mine and planted a wet kiss on its tip. "What is it?"

I was thinking Ray never liked to go long without s.e.x, either. It had been a couple months now. He'd been awfully patient with me. Maybe he'd been a little depressed after Noelle's departure, too. He'd just chosen to work through it differently.

He stepped back, waiting for my answer.

I pulled my legs up onto the stool and slid onto my knees, bringing my face level with his. I held out my arms.

He stepped into them.

I wrapped my legs around his waist and whispered in his ear.

His arms tightened around me with alarming intensity.

"A born-again virgin? Awesome."

The next morning I couldn't get the stupid grin off my face. I felt like Scarlett O'Hara the morning after a drunken Rhett ravaged her. Even Ray had a new spring in his step and added warmth to his voice. We were back in the groove as a couple.

Danny kept sneaking looks at us over breakfast, but he didn't say anything. Hopefully Ray and I hadn't made too much noise last night. I wondered what Danny knew about s.e.x. Wasn't sixth grade the year the kids lost their innocence about that issue forever when the school health teacher showed up? Would Ray and I still be his foster parents when the time arrived to talk about s.e.x? When Ray and I went to school, they told us about the birds and the bees. Now we have the birds and the bees, the bees who preferred bees, the birds who preferred birds, the birds that looked like bees but liked birds and vice versa and versa vice-a, then the birds who actually had the surgery and took the medication to become bees or vice versa. Who could explain all that with a "don't-worry-it's-all-part-of-growing-up and growing-up-is-great" face?

I pushed that intimidating thought out of my mind. Nothing was going to ruin my day. It didn't even bother me when Ray suggested I accompany him and Danny to see Princ.i.p.al Travis in her office. I had a new pair of pants to wear.

Ray followed my Lexus to the school parking lot and kept his eyes open as we entered the building. With all the buses circling, the ma.s.ses of kids milling about, and Danny inches from my elbow, I doubted anyone would take a shot at me on the school grounds anyway.

When the secretary ushered us into Princ.i.p.al Travis' office, we found another boy and his parents waiting with Mrs. Travis. The boy's nose was in a splint, both eyes red, purple, and black. He reminded me of the riddle what's black and white and red all over?

I tried to arrange my face into a sympathetic expression as I sat down.

Princ.i.p.al Travis introduced us to the other boy's parents and the boy. His father rose and shook Ray's hand. His mother gave me a tentative smile. Neither of our sons acknowledged each other.